Screwed by Event Planner

I was averaging about 2 weddings per month through an event planner who would include me in their package if their bride asked them for a photographer. I just found out that they are using another person that I sort of trained (16 year old kid with a cheap Nikon) to shoot a wedding that I was scheduled to do Saturday.

I found out yesterday that my wedding for Saturday was canceled. I was told by the event planner that the bride had hired her own photographer. Well, I know the bride through a friend and I contacted her today and she tells me that they are having this kid shoot the wedding instead. I am heart broken and pissed off at the same time.

I'm thinking about going out tomorrow and drumming up some of my own business. Maybe take the camera to Stone Mountain (near Atlanta) and do a bunch of free shots and hand out business cards with my web page on them. Then post those photos to my blog afterwards so they can look at them and hope to get some leads out of that.

Is that a good idea or will I just look desperate doing that?

You'll look desperate doing that. You should already have built up a decent portfolio working with the planner so far, right? The fact is, working under someone else and being bundled in means that what you do wasn't valued and price is very important. So you'll do better to be on your own, create the value that the right clients are going to want.

So... you get to keep the deposit right?

I mean, its a cancellation a day in advance. With no real excuse (changed photographer's) = me keeping my deposit and wishing them good luck with the kid. Maybe hint that you've trained him yourself so he shouldn't be "too bad"

They probably switched togs for budget reasons, it would seem insane to me to trust my wedding to a 16year old kid, even if i know some of whom are amazing photographer's.

Don't get so down! If I had a client that left me for a 16 year old, I wouldn't want that client. As you go along on the business side you'll learn not to take it so personally.

OK, here's how this works.

It's actually an all in one business. They have a chapel and a reception hall and they have vendors. I am a vendor. They ask me if I'm available and I tell them if I am or not. I never signed a contract with them. I usually get paid the night of the event. Never had a problem with that except for one time. The bride was confused as to how I was to be paid so she only brought half the money which isn't much x2.

Anyway, they asked me if I could do this wedding a couple months ago. I said I could do it. Well now they tell me that I'm not shooting this wedding this weekend. Blah, blah, blah. They're lucky I don't have a contract otherwise they'd be paying me for canceling.

I do have a lot of good stuff for my portfolio. Problem is I live in a depressed area and there are already 2 local photographers grabbing up all the work.

I've tried SEO on my website but I am still on Google page 7 with simple search words (Atlanta Wedding Photographer, etc). Throw the word 'affordable' in there and I am near the top of the list but I still have gotten no bites from that.

At this point, the last thing I want to even think about today is photographing weddings. I can feel my blood pressure rising just thinking about this. Maybe a few beers this weekend will spark some kind of idea to get this ball rolling a bit better.

So....Lesson learned. Contracts are worth moolah.

Unfortunately the reality is that you were screwed by you. You put yourself in a position where people could use you and didn't have any protection in place (contracts/retainer).

Time to start running your business in a professional manner. Get a contract, start getting paid a retainer to reserve a date in your calendar. If other togs in the area are grabbing up work look at what they do to get it and do the same.

I think Dan hits it on the spot.

Weddings. 50% due within 30 days of booking. Paid in full 30 days prior to Wedding date. Full contract. If they dont pay I dont show and I keep their money (this has never happened).

I know it's probably just a coincidence, but anyone remember that thread by some kid who was being trained by the wedding photographer who shot all the weddings at this kid's mom's venue ? This seems eerily from the main photographer's perspective in that situation..

Dan is right...you can not blame anyone but yourself here. Outside of not having a contract, the client did not value your service. All my brides want ME to shoot my wedding, not because I am cheap, convent, whatever. They want the images and experience that comes with booking my company. If your sale is price based, you will hardly ever win. This does not go for just photography, but almost any sales situation. There will always be someone that will be cheaper.

Dan Marchant wrote in post #15055365
Unfortunately the reality is that you were screwed by you. You put yourself in a position where people could use you and didn't have any protection in place (contracts/retainer).

Time to start running your business in a professional manner. Get a contract, start getting paid a retainer to reserve a date in your calendar. If other togs in the area are grabbing up work look at what they do to get it and do the same.

stillinamerica wrote in post #15055423
I think Dan hits it on the spot.

Weddings. 50% due within 30 days of booking. Paid in full 30 days prior to Wedding date. Full contract. If they dont pay I dont show and I keep their money (this has never happened).

I agree whole heatedly with your statements. When I shoot weddings on my own I do get 50% up front. I think I will tell the planner the same thing next time. Ironically enough, I think I could have booked another wedding tomorrow about a month or so ago but I already had this committed. I lost more money than they would have paid me to shoot this wedding tomorrow which is one of the reasons why I'm so P.O.'d right now.

Is the kid licensed and insured?

Probably not. He doesn't even have a car. His Mommy has to drive him to do his shoots which makes this REALLY embarrassing. If anything, it's opened my eyes to the fact that I can do better than this and I have done better than this. I just need to do more of it and dump this event planner.

If you are OK burning this bridge..... Send them an invoice due to the late change! If you want them as a referral base..... Get 50% the day they ask your availability.. I am sure they get a deposit!!! Trust me.. Couple times with junior... With an unhappy bride.... They will reconsider their business model!

CameraMan wrote in post #15055524
Probably not. He doesn't even have a car. His Mommy has to drive him to do his shoots which makes this REALLY embarrassing. If anything, it's opened my eyes to the fact that I can do better than this and I have done better than this. I just need to do more of it and dump this event planner.

Ahaha, reminds me i just had an event planner today talk to me about covering two events for them in the same day and she was like

"Oh you could totally just ride with us in the car! Save on parking! (I had indicated that they must cover all parking costs)"

"Oh certainly, but where would you sit? I kinda take alot of space. Then theres my equipment "

She laughed and promised to cover any extra parking i may incur.